Even after they had stopped modeling for Playboy and had settled down with other men to raise families of their own,
[Hugh] Hefner still considered them his women, and in the bound volumes of his magazine he would always possess them.

- Gay Talese
 

Yes, risk taking is inherently failure-prone.  Otherwise, it would be called sure-thing-taking.

- Tim McMahon
 

by Alexandra Frean

Human beings have an innate and reliable ability to recognise people with irresponsible and risk-taking personalities, just by glancing at their faces, scientists have discovered.  Researchers at the Universities of Ulster and Nottingham Trent believe that this little-known faculty is particularly useful for women because it enables them, in a fraction of a second, to identify whether strangers are likely to make good fathers.  The dilemma for women in search of the ideal mate, however, is that the facial differences between the "natural dad" and the "natural cad" are so subtle that they can be recognised only subconsciously.

Anyone hoping for a handy pocket guide to acceptable male faces will have to wait for further research.  Mark Shevlin, of Magee College at the University of Ulster, says his experiments show that people can identify a narrow, but highly significant, range of personality traits from facial clues alone.  Dr Shevlin asked 60 volunteers to look at photographs of 36 strangers and rate them from one to 10 for each of the three main personality types - extrovert, neurotic and psychotic.

Presenting his findings at the British Psychological Society's social psychology conference in Nottingham, Dr Shevlin said: "We found that there was a strong association between the ratings for psychoticism."  There was no such correlation for extroversion or neuroticism because the personality traits associated with these types were less crucial in the process of natural selection, the researchers concluded.

Dr Shevlin and his colleagues believe that the ability to recognise psychotic personality traits has probably become "hardwired" or programmed into our brains as a strategy for avoiding unsuitable mates.  "The behavioural correlates of psychotism are criminal activity, delinquency and drug taking.  Someone who is high in "P" [psychotism] is unlikely to make a substantial parental investment and therefore less likely to be selected as a mate," he says.  He speculates that the ability to recognise psychotism in the human face is most developed in women in the phase of the menstrual cycle when they are most likely to conceive.  The puzzle remains, however, as to precisely what facial features indicate a psychotic personality.

The physical differences between those with and without psychotic personality traits are so subtle, according to Dr Shevlin, that it is impossible to spot them with the naked eye.  The researchers are planning further study. - The Times

Source: one of the two Wellington newspapers, but I see I've neglected to write down which one.  I will be less careless in the future.

If It's True A Woman Can Spot a Cad, Why Didn't She Spot This One?

This is a 750kb .mp3 file about a very embarrassing phone call...

Quality Control

Source: joe-ks.com

Or This One?

An Australian guy decided to travel around the Greek Islands.  He walked into a bar and Jill (the Australian Barmaid) took his order and noticed his accent.  Over the course of the night they got to know each other.  At the end of Jill's shift he asked her if she wanted to come back to his place and have sex with him.  Although she was attracted to him she said no.  He then offered to pay her $200 for sex.  Jill was travelling the world and because she was short of funds she agreed.

The next night the guy turned up again, and after showing her plenty of attention throughout the night he asked if she would sleep with him again for $200.  Jill remembered the night before and was only too happy to agree.  This wemt on for 5 nights.  On the 6th night the guy came in and sat in the corner.  Jill thought that if she paid him more attention then maybe she could shake some more cash out of him, so she went over and sat next to him.  She asked him where he was from in Australia and he told her: "Melbourne."

"So am I... What suburb in Melbourne?"

"Glen Iris" he replied.

"That's amazing..." she said, "So am I!  What street?"

"Cameo Street" he replied.

"This is unbelievable..." she said, "What number?"

He said "Number 20" and she was totally astonished.

"You're not going to believe this but I'm from Number 22!  My parents still live there!"

"I know," he said, "Your Father gave me $1,000 to give to you."

For articles on affair motivators, changing relationships, do-it-yourself psychotherapy, lies, insincerity, social graces, cosmetic surgery, roots of culture, self-deception, love, and reunions of lost relatives click the "Up" button below to take you to the Index page for this Relationships section.